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[Guide] Adding Downloaded Graphics & Skins (PC & Mac) + video tutorial

radestock

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radestock

radestock

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THIS GUIDE IS FOR FM 09 - FOR FM 10 PLEASE USE THE GRAPHICS AND SKIN INSTALLATION HELPER

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=154447

Now includes a video tutorial for skins ONLY. Don't follow it for any other type of graphics and use it alongside the written text not instead of it:

Note, this following guide is EXACTLY the same for Steam and non-steam versions of the game. Always use your user data location!

So you've downloaded something you want to include in your FM game but you're not sure what to do next. You've come to the right place. This does NOT cover creating your own graphics, just installation of those you can download from the many FM fan sites. Follow this step by step guide (follow ALL 3 steps unless told to skip!!):

1. Extract your download

Your download is likely to be in one of 4 formats:

.zip

.rar

.7z

.fmf

If you file is
.fmf
format then skip to section 2 but the first three are all compressed formats that you'll need to extract first. You're going to need some software installed to be able to do that (choose which one depending on your Operating System):

Windows XP/2000/Vista:
(Choose the most recent .exe. At time of writing it's
)

MacOS X:

7-Zip is installed using the .exe you download. To install The Unarchiver simply double click on the .zip file you download from their website then drag the program it extracts (called 'The Unarchiver') into your apps folder.

Once installed, create a new folder somewhere you can keep track of (on your desktop for instance) and place your downloaded graphics zip, rar or 7z in it. Now we extract:

Windows:
Right click on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 7-Zip from the menu, then select 'Extract Here'.

MacOS X:
Right click (or ctrl + click) on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 'open with' then select 'The Unarchiver'.

Your file should extract and most probably create a folder in the same directory, or perhaps a .fmf file.

2. Where to put your file

Depending on what you're wanting to add you need to put your graphics in different locations. After step one you will either have a folder or an .fmf file to add. Now you need to find what is called your 'user data folder'. This will be in different locations depending on your Operating System:

FOR THE FM 10 DEMO:

Win Vista:
C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010 demo\

Win 2000/XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010 demo\

Win 98/ME:
C:\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010 demo\

Mac OS X:
/Users/<username>/Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2010 demo/

FOR FM09:

Win Vista:
C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\

Win 2000/XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\

Win 98/ME:
C:\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\

Mac OS X:
/Users/<username>/Documents/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2009/

NB:
There is no folder called 'user data'. This is simply a name for the location specified above. Everything should be done in the root of the directory shown.

Those are the default locations (note that if Windows is installed on a drive other than C:\ your user data folder will be on that drive). You can change this folder's location from within game preferences should you wish. Find your user data folder then follow the instructions below for the type of graphics you're adding:

SKINS

These need to be added to a folder within the user data folder called 'skins'. The folder may already be there or it may need to be created - do that if you need to. Simply drag your extracted folder from step 1 or fmf file into the skins folder. The extracted folder will likely be named the same as the skin you're installing. So for example if we were installing a skin called "Super Blue", after step 1 we might have a folder called "\superblue" or a file called "superblue.fmf". We drag that into our 'skins' folder within our user data folder leaving us with:

...\skins\superblue.fmf

or

...\skins\superblue\

(
note '...' simply means the location of your user data folder e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\
)

If you are adding a folder a good way to check everything is ok is to open the folder once it's in your skins folder. There should be a .xml file in there named the same as the folder (so for us that would be superblue.xml) along with some other folders (panels, graphics and maybe some others). What you don't want is just another folder called 'superblue' then when you open that you see the xml file. You want just one level of folder, for example:

...\skins\superblue\superblue.xml + other folders (panels, graphics...) -
CORRECT

...\skins\superblue\superblue\superblue.xml + other folders (panels, graphics...) -
WRONG

If yours is wrong, change your folders around so they are correct.

LOGOS

These need to be added to a folder within the user data folder called 'graphics'. The folder may already be there or it may need to be created - do that if you need to. So for example in Windows XP it would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\graphics\

Simply drag your extracted folder from step 1 or fmf file into the graphics folder. Logos need to be within the 'graphics' folder but it does not matter exactly where they are placed. You can organise things into sub-folders to keep your logos neat. For instance you could have a 'logos' sub folder within 'graphics'. Within that you might have sub folders for the different coutries, then within those the different leagues, and so on. Graphics you've downloaded are often already in some sort of order too.

One thing to watch out for when organising are files called config.xml. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of .png graphics will come with a config.xml that is unique to them in the same folder. Make sure they stay together, in the same folder and that new png files or config.xml files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

If your graphics are .fmf format then you can still create sub folders and organise them how you wish.

FACES

These need to be added to a folder within the user data folder called 'graphics'. The folder may already be there or it may need to be created - do that if you need to. So for example in Windows XP it would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\graphics\

Simply drag your extracted folder from step 1 or fmf file into the graphics folder. Faces need to be within the 'graphics' folder but it does not matter exactly where they are placed. You can organise things into sub-folders to keep your faces neat. For instance you could have a 'faces' sub folder within 'graphics'. Within that you might have sub folders for the different coutries, then within those the different leagues, and so on. Graphics you've downloaded are often already in some sort of order too.

One thing to watch out for when organising are files called config.xml. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of .png graphics will come with a config.xml that is unique to them in the same folder. Make sure they stay together, in the same folder and that new png files or config.xml files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

If your graphics are .fmf format then you can still create sub folders and organise them how you wish.

KITS

These need to be added to a folder within the user data folder called 'graphics'. The folder may already be there or it may need to be created - do that if you need to. So for example in Windows XP it would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\graphics\

Simply drag your extracted folder from step 1 or fmf file into the graphics folder. Kits need to be within the 'graphics' folder but it does not matter exactly where they are placed. You can organise things into sub-folders to keep your kits neat. For instance you could have a 'kits' sub folder within 'graphics'. Within that you might have sub folders for the different coutries, then within those the different leagues, and so on. Graphics you've downloaded are often already in some sort of order too.

One thing to watch out for when organising are files called config.xml. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of .png graphics will come with a config.xml that is unique to them in the same folder. Make sure they stay together, in the same folder and that new png files or config.xml files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

If your graphics are .fmf format then you can still create sub folders and organise them how you wish.

BALLS

This has changed for FM09. You need to include your files in an actual skin rather than putting them in the user data folder. Please see this thread for instructions on very easily creating a skin to add files to:

If you already use a skin that comes with it's own balls and want to use your new balls with it then you need to add them to that skin. Say you wanted to add balls to a skin called 'superblue'. You would add them in the same way as above, just into the skin instead:

ie ...\skins\superblue\graphics\pitch\balls\

(
note '...' simply means the location of your user data folder e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\
)

Those folders should already exist in the skin your adding the balls to.

POPUPS

This has changed for FM09. You need to include your files in an actual skin rather than putting them in the user data folder. Please see this thread for instructions on very easily creating a skin to add files to:

If you already use a skin that comes with it's own popup and want to use your new popup with it then you need to add the files to that skin. Say you wanted to add a popup to a skin called 'superblue'. You would add the files in the same way as above, just into the skin instead:

ie ...\skins\superblue\graphics\pitch\popup\

(
note '...' simply means the location of your user data folder e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\
)

Those folders should already exist in the skin your adding the popup to.

NETS

This has changed for FM09. You need to include your files in an actual skin rather than putting them in the user data folder. Please see this thread for instructions on very easily creating a skin to add files to:

If you already use a skin that comes with it's own nets and want to use your new nets with it then you need to add the files to that skin. Say you wanted to add nets to a skin called 'superblue'. You would add the folders in the same way as above, just into the skin instead:

ie ...\skins\superblue\graphics\pitch\nets\

(
note '...' simply means the location of your user data folder e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\
)

Those folders should already exist in the skin your adding the nets to.

3. Finishing Up

Now we've installed the graphics we need to get the game to load them up properly, a vital step. Launch Football Manager 2009. When loaded go straight into game preferences from the intro screen. Click on 'Display and Sound' on the tree menu. Make sure that you
tick
the check box on the page called 'Always Reload Skin on Confirm' and
un-tick
then box saying 'Use Skin Cache'. Now press confirm on the tree menu. There should be a box that pops up saying 'loading image data for the new skin'. Once this is done your graphics should be working within the game. You may want to quit the game and reload it - just to be sure.

To select a skin you've added choose it from the drop down menu in preferences and press confirm. Other graphics do not need choosing to enable them. You do not need to start a new save game for graphics to work.

Once you're sure your graphics have worked go into preferences again and change the tick boxes back to how they were if you wish (doing so will speed up the game load times).

That's it!!!

Finally...

Feel free to link to this guide but don't take it and pass it off as your own work. I hope you found it useful

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michaeltmurrayuk

michaeltmurrayuk

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Posted

Good Work :thup:

However you did miss off the Pitch Player Icons (unless I'm blind), I think you covered everything else that people are likely to change:

2D Pitch Player Icons

This has changed for FM09. You need to include your files in an actual skin rather than putting them in the user data folder. Please see this thread for instructions on very easily creating a skin to add files to:

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=80284

If you already use a skin that comes with it's own player icons and want to use your new player icons with it then you need to add the files to that skin. Say you wanted to add player icons to a skin called 'superblue'. You would add the folders in the same way as above, just into the skin instead:

ie ...\skins\superblue\graphics\pitch\icons\kit\

(note '...' simply means the location of your user data folder e.g. C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\)

Those folders should already exist in the skin your adding the player icons to.

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radestock

radestock

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As stated at the top this guide is just for the kind of graphics you download from sites that include everything you need with them. If you're creating your own you need to do some additional steps not covered in this guide.

See this thread http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=40811

And you can edit your posts so there really is no need for three posts in 5 minutes to add to your question

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radestock

radestock

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You've saved the graphics to an external hard drive - is that all you've done or have you followed the guide?

If you're saving to an external drive then it's unlikely that's where your user data folder is by default. If that's the case then you'll need to point to your custom folder. Change the location of your user data folder from within preferences on the game itself.

To avoid any confusion remove all your custom graphics from your external drive BEFORE you change the location of your user data folder. After changing it's location save your game or something to make sure that FM will have created the right directory structure. Now go look on your external drive and find your new user data folder, follow the steps in the guide and re-add your graphics.

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COYSfifa

COYSfifa

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Thank you for your help, it has solved the problem and my games has graphics again.

FM2008 is also installed to the external hard drive. It seems to be working okay. Can you think of any reasons why I could inccur any problems with this installation at a later date?

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radestock

radestock

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Depends really.

I would always install stuff on an internal drive because an external drive over USB 2.0 has a far slower transfer rate than IDE or SATA that internal drive use. If it works for you though and you're happy then I don't see the problem.

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ollocks

ollocks

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Posted

i'm having no joy getting any graphics coming up. Have download a facepack for english leagues. Using Vista and the pathname is:

c:/program files/sports interactive/football manager 2008/graphics/english premier league/ and then into team names

each team folder has a .config file in it.

Is there anything blatently obvious i've done wrong?

Have also done the final steps.

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jod123

jod123

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i'm having no joy getting any graphics coming up. Have download a facepack for english leagues. Using Vista and the pathname is:

c:/program files/sports interactive/football manager 2008/graphics/english premier league/ and then into team names

each team folder has a .config file in it.

Is there anything blatently obvious i've done wrong?

Have also done the final steps.

Wrong location. It should be in this location: My Documents/sports interactive/football manager 2008/graphics/english premier league/

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  • 4 weeks later...
jod123

jod123

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Im having no joy with kits or facepacks

This is were i put my facepack:

ak7rsj.jpg

Please Help

I am assuming that is the Sports Interactive in your My Documents folder. If it is then that is the right place.

Have you unticked 'Use Skin Cache' and ticked 'Always Reload Skin on Confirm' in the game's display and sound preferences>

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  • 2 weeks later...
arsenal_2111

arsenal_2111

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radestock

Great guide mate, found it really useful. Found out what I'd been doing wrong, I had:

...\skins\superblue\superblue\superblue.xml

Instead, so I copied everything into the first superblue folder and now it's working fine!

Thanks again mate

Also, would you mind if I linked this in my GPTG FAQ?

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JD nawrat

JD nawrat

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Ok, I've got a new skin, and it installed no bother. However, the skin doesn't come with the Kits of 08/09, or the logos for the Premiership.

Therefore, I decided to install my own. I followed the guide up top, but now the logos and kits will not appear.

Is it possible to have the skin, logos and kits all together?

Thanks.

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jod123

jod123

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Ok, I've got a new skin, and it installed no bother. However, the skin doesn't come with the Kits of 08/09, or the logos for the Premiership.

Therefore, I decided to install my own. I followed the guide up top, but now the logos and kits will not appear.

Is it possible to have the skin, logos and kits all together?

Thanks.

Yes it is. Did you untick use skin cache and always reload skin on confirm as this needs to be done to load them into the game?

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JD nawrat

JD nawrat

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Here's another question, but I don't know if this is the right place.

The Skin is Steklo Vista.

If any of you have it, you'll know that the Attributes colours are in white, green, blue and orange.

I don't particularly like it that way, so I was wondering if it was possible to change that, but keep the same theme?

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jod123

jod123

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Posted
Here's another question, but I don't know if this is the right place.

The Skin is Steklo Vista.

If any of you have it, you'll know that the Attributes colours are in white, green, blue and orange.

I don't particularly like it that way, so I was wondering if it was possible to change that, but keep the same theme?

Have a look here. :)

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higdawg

higdawg

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Posted

i have put a bunch of graphics into the right folders, new skin etc.

and i have read this guide a hundred times but i can't figure out the problem.

when fm loads now it loads as just a white screen, i can select some option but i have no idea what the problem is.

please help someone.

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jod123

jod123

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Posted
i have put a bunch of graphics into the right folders, new skin etc.

and i have read this guide a hundred times but i can't figure out the problem.

when fm loads now it loads as just a white screen, i can select some option but i have no idea what the problem is.

please help someone.

Search the forums for "white screen" as there are several threads with possible solutions to it.

Also make sure you patch the game.

By the way what skin is did you download?

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  • 2 weeks later...
Mr Peanut

Mr Peanut

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I very new to skinning but have wanted to change the appearance of my FM08 after seeing screenshots players etc, i have succedded to getting my desired skin in the option to load in "Preferences" but the problem is that i dont have the fonts and get errors like these:

"Did not find font resource: fonts/trebucbd"

"Did not find font resource: fonts/lucidagrande"

They are therin the folders though.

Firstly i can't load FM at all, well at least to the main screen of it and then load games, I was hoping how i could get these fonts or should i just delete them from the skin files and then they will be automatically be replaced in the game with other ones.

Thanks

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mark5

mark5

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have read instructions on installing my downloaded graphics but got stuck at the start.i must be an idiot but could someone explaine.i got kits and logos from fm live downloaded them to desktop but cannot find"exe your download" the desktop icon is white with "e" in centre.would be very very gratefull for help.once again must be an idiot.

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jod123

jod123

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have read instructions on installing my downloaded graphics but got stuck at the start.i must be an idiot but could someone explaine.i got kits and logos from fm live downloaded them to desktop but cannot find"exe your download" the desktop icon is white with "e" in centre.would be very very gratefull for help.once again must be an idiot.

Are they for FM Live or FM08 as it may be different for FM Live, I am not sure.

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jod123

jod123

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didnt think about that you may be right. couldnt use sortitoutsi as its down so went to fm live

So you want graphics for FM08?

If so there are other websites like sortitoutsi. Try FMPortal, CMFrenzy, FMGlive or FMUnderground. Let me know how you get on. :)

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Rettke

Rettke

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Posted

I have a question, if i have a fmf file with all the club logos (not all but many), however i have edited some leagues and i have with their respective config files...

I have to create a new fmf file?? or if i put this as a folder it will be readed over the leagues that appear in the fmf file??

thanks

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jod123

jod123

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I have a question, if i have a fmf file with all the club logos (not all but many), however i have edited some leagues and i have with their respective config files...

I have to create a new fmf file?? or if i put this as a folder it will be readed over the leagues that appear in the fmf file??

thanks

I am not sure I fully understand you but you don't need to worry about fmf files when adding new logos. Just follow this guide. :)

what code do i have to put in the config file for club badges?

I replied to your email. :D

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jod123

jod123

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can someone pleaseee just tell me in a simple way how i get the official prem badges and kits for fm09

1. First of all you need to download them from sortitoutsi, fmportal, fmgilve or whereever.

2. Then download WinRar and install it

3. Go to My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009 on your computer and create a graphics folder

4. Right click on the badges and kits you have downloaded and choose extract to..

5. From the window that appears browse to the following location: My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\graphics and confirm

6. Go into display and sound preferences in the game and disable use skin cache and enable always reload skin on confirm.

7. Confirm these changes and go back in and put them back the way they were before.

The badges and kits should now be in the game. Let me know how you get on and if you need any more help. :)

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radestock

radestock

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Can Somone Send Me A Link To Somewhere I Can Download Player Faces I Hate That The Prem Has No Pictures For Players .. Cheers

No requests are allowed in this forum and this is not what this thread is about. Please don't post requests again and keep on topic.

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dazzler07

dazzler07

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i have put several basdges in the graphics folder, in the sport interactive folder in my documents and followed the instuctions and it still doesnt show them is there anything im missing and how does it know to put the Blackburn Badge on the Blackburn Sqaud page or do you have to do it manually???

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dazzler07

dazzler07

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i went to a football manager fan site and downloaded some im testing the blackburn rovers one to see if it works, but to be honest im a total newbie

i have created a Graphics folder in My documents/ sports interactive/ and then copied the kit in to there

reloaded the game unticked skin cache and ticked always relaod skin

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